Dream a Little Dream of Me
by Superior of Ice Cream planet
Summary: With Terra away in the Air Force and Aqua away on business trips, Ventus is enjoying having the house to himself. That is, until Aqua returns one day to tell him she's adopting two kids. Surely she didn't expect him to care for them? He was still in school after all, he had a social life! Before he knows it, Venus has become a stay at home dad to two lovable orphans. Daddy Ventus!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any related works. This is purely fan-fiction.

**A/N: This a rewrite of a story I wrote back in my early teenage years. It was called _"Daddy Ventus." _As I was searching through my computer I found the original plot outline and decided to give it a reboot, and a new title too, I heard it in a song and I doubt it makes much sense :P. I've gotten a lot better at writing since then so hopefully this goes better. Also, the story is already finished and will be updated once a week. Maybe on Wednesdays.**

** Dream a Little Dream of Me**

Chapter 1

He tapped the table impatiently as the doctor maneuvered the room, picking through files and mumbling to himself. He really didn't have the time and he wasn't in the mood to be there.

He was adopting a kid, two of them actually, and he really didn't want to. That was a stretch to say actually, Aqua was adopting them. It was some backwards thing that made him uncomfortable, the entire thing seemed illegal. He didn't know much about adoptions, but he knew there was a process. A process that didn't involve secret labs and crazy doctors.

"Excuse me." He spoke up, "Can I see them?"

"Hmm? Ah, Ventus! I forgot you were here." The doctor said. He stalked over to him, leaning down and eyeing him, "You're here for the boys?"

"Yes." He say back, putting as much distance between them as possible.

"There." The doctor pointed his skinny finger towards a mirror.

"Um..." He started but stopped when he saw the mirror move aside to reveal a window. Behind it were two boys, each sitting in a chair at a table. The room was painful to his eyes, it was all so white. The only color being the children, go seemed pretty pale themselves. "Why are they behind glass?" He stood up and walked over to it.

"It would be dangerous to let them out at this point." The doctor shrugged, "It's easier this way."

"If it's dangerous to let them out, why are you giving them to me?" Ventus questioned. The boys certainly didn't seem dangerous at all. In fact, they looked calm and a little cute... But just a little.

"The project is scrapped." He sounded angry, "Years of work just scrapped. They aren't necessary and I need the room for bigger projects. I got ahold of your mother and-"

"Aqua isn't my mother." Ventus said, although he was the closest he'd had to one in a long time.

"I talked to Aqua and she agreed to take them off my hands so I wouldn't have to dispose of them." The doctor continued.

"Really?" Ventus shuddered, he didn't like the doctor at all. "Listen, Dr-"

"Vexen." He supplied.

"Right, Dr. Vexen, can I talk to them?" He asked.

"I'll turn on the speakers." Dr. Vexen said

"No, I want to sit with them and talk." Ventus said. A microphone and speaker seemed too distant for children that would soon be living in his house.

"That isn't possible." Dr. Vexen said, "There's no door."

"No door?" He questioned, "How are you feeding them? How are you giving them baths or doing anything?"

"All tests are hands free." Dr. Vexen pointed to a small panel near the back of the room, "The drink is put into an elevator from the basement and sent up." He pointed to another fixture, "The showers are there."

"Drinks?" Ventus questioned.

"They don't eat actual food. I created a formula that will allow them to simply drink the liquid and all nutrients and supplements for the day will be provided." Dr. Vexen said, "They get one a day."

"No door, no food. There's nothing to do in there." Ventus wrinkled his nose and leaned closer.

"They don't need anything." Dr. Vexen said, "But they do have paper and a crayon."

"One crayon?" Ventus questioned. That wasn't enough for any child. How could someone raise a child like that?

"No need to spoil them. They're test subjects, not children." Dr. Vexen sneered, "I'll have then ready tomorrow, introduce yourself." He was handed a microphone and nudge closer to the window. Dr. Vexen went about gathering files and mumbling to himself again.

Ventus looked towards the boys and cleared his throat. "Um, hello?" He spoke into the microphone. The two boys glanced up at the window but said nothing. "My name is Ventus."

They stared at him for a while before one of them spoke up. This boy was slightly taller and had chocolate let brown hair. His hair was long and unkempt, spiking up in several different directions. "I am Sora." He said. Ventus smiled, the kid sounded so emotionless an robotic. It was a little funny. "I am six years old."

"Nice to meet you Sora." Ventus nodded. He looked at the other boy. This one had blonde hair that was in the same wild style as Sora's.

"This is my brother, he is five years old." Sora pointed to the smaller boy.

"And your name is?" Ventus asked.

"Roxas." He answered. Ventus shifted and sighed. Introductions were out of the way at least. He noticed them examining him and chose that time to look around their room. If they had only paper and a crayon, where were their drawings? Did Vexen take them away? He didn't find it hard to believe that the odd doctor would do that.

"What is it that you do in here?" He asked. He looked at the mattress on the floor and the white blankets on it. There was no way they made the beds themselves.

"We draw until the light go off." Sora answered. He pointed to the table with the sheets of paper and crayon.

"We take turns with the crayon. It is a blue crayon today." Rosas explained. Ventus stared at the stub of a crayon. It was no surprise to him that they went through a crayon a day. There was nothing to do but draw. But it confused him as to why they didn't break it in half and share it that way.

"Our water comes through there when we wake up." Sora pointed to the elevator. Ventus eyed the elevator, he couldn't imagine drinking nothing but Dr. Vexen's miracle water everyday.

"Do you play anything else?" Ventus asked.

"We do not. We don't know how." Sora answered.

"But we share the crayon." Roxas added as if that was an okay answer.

"Come here." Dr. Vexen ordered. The wall next to the window began to move and a narrow doorway appeared. "Talk to them in there."

"No door, huh?" He mumbled as he stalked inside. The boys watched him as he walked over to them. "Hey, you ever had a muffin?"

"No." They both answered simultaneously.

He pulled a banana nut muffin from his pocket. He'd gotten it for breakfast while he was at school, but he'd never gotten around to eating it. It was a little crushed from being in his pocket all day.

He opened it and broke it in half, handing a piece to each if the boys. He watched, waiting to see the look on their faces and was disappointed to see that they didn't react at all. He was sure that after a lifetime of Vexen's water, they would be at least shocked to taste something different.

"I like this." Sora said, " I would like more."

"I didn't bring more, but I will tomorrow." He promised, when we get out of this place."

Sora and Roxas licked the crumbs from their hands, "What was it?" Roxas asked.

"A banana nut muffin. I'll bring more tomorrow." He promised.

"Tomorrow is when the lights come back on." Sora said.

"I won't be here exactly when the lights come. Maybe in..." He paused, "Um, 24 hours."

Sora and Roxas looked at each other before nodding, "Alright." Ventus turned back towards the doorway.

"Okay, goodbye." He waved and left the room.

Dr. Vexen pulled him out of the room and allowed the door to close. "You fed them?" He questioned.

"Yes." He nodded, "A muffin."

"They've never eaten before. You have no idea how they will react to it." Dr. Vexen hissed. He pressed a thick folder into his hands and pushed him to the exit. "Be back at exactly four o'clock. And study that package. Don't be late."

"Right." He said. He left the building in a hurry and didn't look back. It was too tempting to go back to Aqua and force her to change her mind. The boys were strange enough, but everything about Dr. Vexen put him on edge. He wasn't sure if he wanted to get involved with him.

He left the building and walked to his car. Actually, it was Aqua's car. A black Buick Lacrosse that he drove more then her. He took unlocked the door and threw the folder onto the passenger seat. As he sat down inside he smiled, momentarily forgetting the oddities of Dr. Vexen's lab and smelling the car. It still smelled like a new car despite the fact that he'd had it for a year.

He was careful with it. It _was_ still technically Aqua's car. Despite the fact that she made more then enough to repair any damages to it, he knew she'd be disappointed at him for being so reckless.

While he drove, he eyed the folder. He assumed it was full of medical records and whatnot, but maybe there were other things. Dr. Vexen's entire project was scary to him, he couldn't imagine growing up the way they did, what if the folder held evidence of the illegal nature of the project?

And what would Aqua do if she found out? At the moment he was going to assume that he didn't know what she'd sent him to, but what if she did?He pushed the question to the back if his head and kept driving. Aqua was a good person, she wouldn't willingly get involved in things like this.

He pulled to a stop at a traffic light, noting how but the streets were, how was it that a place that allowed human experiments on children was in the middle of such a busy town? Looking around, he could see many places he visited frequently. The skate-rink, the plaza, the library, a host of diners and restaurants... Including a high class restaurant owned by Aqua.

Aqua owned 3 of them in 3 separate towns. It was the reason she felt confident enough to adopt not only him, but now Sora and Roxas.

Maybe that's how she'd heard about it. The white building that sat in the town square looked out of place, perhaps she'd gone in out of curiosity. He was sure that when she'd seem them, she immediately decided that she would take them in. He remembered she'd done the same thing for him.

As a child, after his stay with family had gone bad, he was placed in a foster home with a woman who only seemed to have children for the money the government gave her. She had 8 other children of various ages, including Aqua and another boy he'd grown close to names Terra.

He'd only been eleven years old at the time and Aqua was turning 19, but she'd taken an immediate liking to him. They'd spent nights talking, mostly about what they planned to do when she left. She wanted to open a diner, Terra wanted to be a pilot, and he'd wanted to be a super hero.

5 years later and Aqua was ready to adopt two new kids. It almost made him feel like he was being replaced, but then the thought of the children behind a glass window sharing a blue crayon made him put that thought away. He was sure Aqua had seen them and thought that had to take them in. She had the money after all, she could care for kids.

But she hadn't actually thought it over much, let alone asked him if he was okay with being the designated babysitter.

He sighed and smiled, "Always the bleeding heart, Aqua."

**A/n: okay, the end of a very slow chapter. I wanted to introduce Aqua in this chapter but it can wait. I have a better entrance planned for her. I just wanted to give background and introduce some main characters. **


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any related works. This is purely fan-fiction.

**A/N: I'm going to upload as much as I can of the cited chapters so we can pick up from where we left off. So lucky readers, you get another chapter today.**

Chapter 2

He'd spent a few hours flipping though the pages in the folder. He'd only planned on skimming it, but he'd gotten so absorbed in the pages that he couldn't stop reading.

It was like some science fiction novel. The experiments that Vexen had done included chemical injections of substances he created and prolonged periods of isolation. Sure, they were already pretty isolated, but they were also separated and placed in dark chambers whenever Vexen thought it was necessary.

There was no evidence of much physical activity. They walked a few feet from their beds to the elevator for their drinks and then say at the table all day. There were a few pictures of them when they were younger, but they were all the same. Roxas or Sora waiting patiently with the same blank look on their faces while the other used the crayon.

After a while, he'd stopped and began setting up the guest room for then. Aqua's home was a little big, it had 5 bedrooms and 4 baths. But he, Aqua, and Terra all took up a room. Aqua had a home office and that only left one room for the boys.

He was sure it wouldn't matter to them, thy shared a room their entire life. The problem came when he looked for clothes. He could barely find anything for them to wear. Sure, they'd have clothes already on, but they needed something to wear until Aqua took them shopping.

He sighed, he'd been doing that a lot lately, as he thought about how unprepared they were to bring two young children into their home.

He looked at the clock and saw it was only ten in the morning. He ha plenty of time to run to a store and get something for the boys to wear. Maybe he'd even get them a toy or something.

He went to the living room and took his keys off of the hook. "Ventus? Is that you?" He paused and looked towards the kitchen, he hadn't even known that Aqua was home.

"Yeah." He answered, "I was about to go out and get some things."

She exited the kitchen, wiping her hands on the flower printed apron she was wearing. "I'm surprised your up this early, and on a Saturday too." She smiled.

"Well, I have to get the boys at 4. I just want everything ready for them." He shrugged.

"Today?" Aqua asked, "I always imagined adoptions would take a lot longer then a day to finalize."

"I'm sure they do." He agreed, "When you use an adoption agency."

"Right." Aqua said thoughtfully, "I suppose Vexen was anxious to move this along."

"Aqua? Where exactly did you meet him?" Ventus asked. Vexen wasn't the type of person she associated herself with. She hung out rich people, people richer then her. But she fit in with them. He couldn't imagine where Vexen fit in.

"At a small get together that Ansem was having." She said. Ventus recognized that name. He was the man who'd made Aqua's small diner into the major chain it was becoming. He was the one who had Aqua jumping from town to town checking up on things and looking for places to expand.

"What the heck is a guy like that doing there?" He wondered aloud.

"He was pretty creepy wasn't he?" She laughed, "He said he was with the Radiant Gardena Pediatric Hospital. It's not unusual for people like him to be there. They try to get funding." She sighed, "He wasn't doing to well and he told me that he would have to get rid of a few of the children." The way she said it made it seem innocent, but he'd been there, there was something off about the entire thing.

She gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen, "Are you cooking tonight?" He asked. The table was covered with vegetables and other ingredients.

"Yes. I was planning a little dinner." She said.

"With just the two of us?" He asked, "Well, four of us."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, "No... I'm inviting over a friend and his wife." She said slowly, "I didn't actually think that we'd be getting the kids so early." Ventus nodded.

"What time is dinner?" He asked.

"4..." She sighed, "But it'll work out." He couldn't see how. Aqua would be busy with her guests and he was hoping to have some help with the boys.

"I'm going to get something's for them." He said, "Do you need anything?"

"No, but give me a call when you get them." She said.

"Alright." He was going to go straight to Vexen after he went to the store. He had a few questions he wanted to ask the man.

0.o.0.o.0

Sora tried to sit as still as possible while Vexen poked him. The pokes hurt more then anything he'd ever felt. But Vexen assures him that there would e more pain to come if he didn't stop his squirming and let him finish.

"There." Vexen jabbed him one more time, "Finished." He applied a bandage to his arm and pushed him back into the room where Roxas waited.

"What is going happen when Ventus returns?" Roxas asked. Sora looked over to his brother, he'd been excited to see Ventus again, but he didn't want to leave the room ever again.

"I think he will take us away from here." Sora said.

"I want to go with him." Roxas said. Sora bit his lips. He didn't know Ventus, they'd just met him, but he was the only one out of all the people that came through and poked at them that didn't hurt them. He hadn't touched them at all, instead he'd given them a muffin

"I want to go with him too." Sora said. They watched Vexen move about outside the room and were happy to see Ventus stroll into the room. He flashes them a smile and started talking to Vexen.

"Aren't you here rather early?" Vexen asked.

"Yeah, I had a few questions." Ventus said.

"I don't have time for that! Just take them and go." He snapped. Sora flinched at the mans tone and more closer to Roxas.

"What? No paperwork or anything?" Ventus asked.

"No, just take them. If I need anything, I'll contact Aqua." Vexen said. Sora watched Ventus enter the room and waited.

"I guess its time to go." Ventus said. Sora hesitated but eventually stood up an took Roxas' hand.

"We will follow you." Sora said. He didn't want anybody else to touch them, but he stayed as close to Ventus as possible as the older boy led them out into the hall. It was a long hall that ended with a door. He could see through it, there was a lot more color then he was used to.

It scared him and at the same time, he was excited. It wasn't the same type of excitement he got from getting the new crayon when the lights came on, it was different. He wanted to get as close as he could to it, yet stay as far away as he could.

"It's a lot hotter outside then it is in here." Ventus said, "But I didn't park too far away."

"Muffin." Roxas said suddenly.

"Yes. You said you would bring us one." Sora said.

"I did. You each get your own, just wait to we get to the car." Ventus opened the door and let them walk out before them. Immediately very thing was different. The air was hotter and he felt like he couldn't breath. Everything was noisier. Machines he'd never even seen before rushed by and people pushed by him as they walked by.

"Ventus!" He found himself clinging to the boy, "Take us back inside!"

"Hey! Whoa, calm down." Ventus took his hand and the took Roxas', "We're almost to my car." He wasn't hurting them, so Sora held onto him as he led them further away from the building and towards a shiny black machine. "Here we are."

Ventus opened it and ushered them inside. Once they were sitting he strapped a belt over them. Sora looked to Roxas and wondered if he was really as calm as he looked. "Are we safe is here?" He asked.

"Safe? Uh, yeah. This is a nice car." Ventus said.

"No! From Vexen and his pokey sticks!" Roxas said.

"Right. Shots, those hurt I guess." Ventus said, "And yeah you're safe." Ventus closed the door and got in through another, "How about some music?"

"What?" Sora asked. He wasn't sure what that was.

"Forget it. When we get home, I'll let you meet Aqua. She's going to be your mom."

He knew what that was. He heard Vexen mention it before. He looked i Roxas and noticed that he wasn't paying attention to Ventus. Instead he was looking around the car. Sora decided to do the same thing. He looked around the car, feeling the seats and examining everything he could touch from where he was strapped in.

Ventus pressed a button and suddenly sound filled the car. It was soft and slow and Sora decided he liked it. "Is this music, Ventus?" He asked.

"Yeah." Ventus said absently.

Sora falls asleep.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus was glad when the boys finally fell asleep. They were only in the car for a moment but he couldn't handle seeing them look around so anxiously. It was the only emotion he'd ever seen on them and it was unsettling. They were terrified.

He gave Aqua a call and let her know that he had the boys and that they would be home soon. It was now eleven and he was glad to have a little but of time to help them relax.

He glanced back at them again, at least they looked peaceful when sleeping. The way Roxas was leaning on Sora was adora- Okay, he had to stop thinking stuff like that.

"We're home guys." He pulled into the driveway and looked up at the house. Aqua had already come rushing out and she aimed a glare at him. "What?" He asked.

"You didn't tell me that soon meant 1 minute." She said, "I wanted to make them a snack."

"They're asleep, Aqua." He said, "And they're really nervous so maybe we should let them rest."

"Right." Aqua opened the back door and carefully lifted Sora out of the back seat. Ventus followed suit and picked up Roxas.

"I set up the guest room for them." He said as the entered the house. Aqua nodded and they took the boys upstairs and laid them gently on the bed. They quietly left the room and Ventus sighed in relief once Aqua closed the door. "How soon until we can get a babysitter?"

"Maybe Monday." Aqua said, "Only for while you're at school."

"I have track and football practice." He reminded, "And I was invited i this party on Friday-"

"I'm not sure I can find a babysitter in such a short amount of time." Aqua said, "You know how busy i am."

"But this was your idea!" He said, "Why wouldn't you plan this out before adopting them?"

"It was so spontaneous!" Aqua moved away from the door, "I wasn't expecting them for another 2 weeks."

He supposed it was Vexen's fault that they were so unprepared, but he wasn't ready to give up his social life for them. They were cute , sure, and he felt bad about everything they'd been through. But he was 16, he wasn't ready to be anybody's caretaker.

"Just give me time, okay?" She asked, but she wasn't really giving him a choice. "Great! Now we can get them fitted for clothes today and give them a hair cut. Dinner is casual so no need to worry about anything too fancy. I've already got the chicken in the oven and I just need to clean up myself, but everything's ready."

"Great." He muttered.

"And I just remembered! Terra and a friend of his will be in town and we need to give the guest room to his friend." She said, "The boys will have to sleep with you."

"What? No!" Ventus protested.

"It's for one day!" She promised, "It'll be fine."

"Fine." He said. At least he would get to see Terra. At had been almost 5 months since he'd last seen Terra. The Air Force kept him busy and away for much of the year. He'd been home on Christmas and hadn't been able today when they would be able to see him again.

"Thank you, I'll make it up to you later." She said. There was a noise and he turned to see Roxas standing behind him.

"Roxas. You're awake." He said, "This is Aqua."

"Mom." Roxas nodded.

"Calling me mom already? You just met me!" But she smiled anyway. "Nice to meet you Roxas."

"Where is my muffin?" Roxas asked.

"I left it in the car." Ventus said, "But Aqua can cut your hair while I get it."

"Do no go back out there." Roxas said, the fear was back in his eyes.

"It's fine." Ventus assure him, "Tell him." He looked to Aqua.

"What? Oh! Yeah! It's fine, and he won't be gone too long. Why don't you introduce me to your brother?" She waited for him to answer. Roxas stared at her and Ventus before nodding.

"Okay, Aqua." He turned and went back to the room.

"I'm not mom anymore?" She asked in confusion.

Ventus chuckled and ran out to the car. He'd purchased two muffins, an outfit and pair of pajamas for each of them. It would be enough until Aqua went shopping.

When he returned it seemed that Aqua was just getting to Introductions. "I'm Aqua." She said, "I'm going to be living here too."

Roxas nodded and Sora didn't say a word. "How about you tell me your names?" Aqua suggested. Sora saw him standing in the doorway.

"Ventus..." He said.

"Really?" Aqua said, "What a coincidence. You know you kind of look like him."

"No, my name is Sora." Sora corrected, "That is Ventus." Sora pointed to him.

"Oh, well Sora is great name too." Aqua said.

"My name is Roxas." Roxas spoke up.

"We already met, remember?" Aqua chuckled, "But Roxas is a good name too."

"I am five years old." Roxas told her.

"I am six." Sora added.

"That's wonderful." Aqua said, "I have to go finish dinner, but Ventus will play with you."

"Play?" Sora repeated.

"With a crayon?" Roxas asked. And now there was excitement in his eyes, "We didn't get a crayon today."

"Uh, we don't have crayons, we have markers." Ventus said. The boys looked at him in confusion and he sighed. He explained what a marker was and showed them how to get the caps off before giving them a few sheets of paper and sitting down.

He pulled out his phone and noticed a few text messages from his friends and Aqua.

11:13: **Aqua: They kind of sound like Robots don't they? **

_Yeah, they do. _

"Ventus, My arm hurts." Sora said after a few minutes of coloring.

"Mine too." Roxas said.

"You just got a lot of shots today." Ventus said, "It's going to be a little sore." He looked up and gasped. They were all covered in marker. "How did you get it on your face?" The white clothes were covered in streaks of marker.

"We ran out of paper." Sora said, "And our clothes look like paper."

"We could never draw with the crayon." Roxas said. Ventus sighed again and decided to just give them the muffins. They devoured them and looked back to him, "I want another one." He said.

"We did not get our water today so we are hungry." Sora said.

"Sure, let's get you something different though." He suggested.

"Like what?" Roxas asked.

"Maybe jello? Or pudding or apple sauce, we'll see." Ventus stood up and left the room, "Come on guys."

Sora and Roxas got up and followed after him. At least they were calming down. They didn't seem as anxious as they had been before.

He led them down to the kitchen and to the fridge. "Okay, let's see." He looked through the contents, "Here's vanilla pudding." He took it out and peeled back the lid before turning to Sora, taste it."

"Sora examined the cup before sticking his finger Into it and scooping some out. "Does it taste like muffin?"

"Not really, can you just taste it?" A large glop on it fell off of Sora's finger and onto the floor. Sora stuck the remaining pudding into his mouth before smiling.

"I like it." He took the cup and began to eat the rest.

"Wait, I want some." Roxas said.

"No, it is mine." Sora turned away from his brother.

"Ventus." Roxas crossed his arms, "I want to try it." Ventus looked for another cup but couldn't find one.

"Um, how about you try Jello?" He suggested. There were two cups left and he gave one to Roxas. Roxas peeled back the lid and poked at the jello.

"What is it?" He asked. He brought the cup to his mouth and licked it

"Do you like it?" Ventus asked.

"Yes." Roxas used his hands to scoop more out

"I want some." Sora had finished his pudding.

"No." Roxas shook his head.

"Ventus! He won't share!" Sora said.

"No, but you wouldn't share your pudding with him." Ventus reminded.

"But Roxas always shares!" Sora said. He wiped his hands in his shirt and frowned, "If there is one, we always have to share. Like with the crayon."

"But you have to be fair." Ventus said. That was what e was supposed to say right? "Treat others how you want to be treated."

"But-" he stopped when he saw Aqua walk into the kitchen.

"Ventus! I left you alone for 10 minutes." She said, "Why are you raiding the fridge?"

"We all missed breakfast." He said, "And they've actually never tasted real food."

"What?" Aqua asked.

"Long story, we can talk about it later." He said, "But I wanted them to try other gongs so they wouldn't always ask for muffins."

"Did you ever think of giving them vegetables?" Aqua said, "You can't start of giving them sweets, they won't want anything else."

"Hey, we don't know that." He tried.

"Ventus." She sighed, "Just, go play out in the backyard."

"They don't really like going outside." He said.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Long story?" He tried again, "It'll be explained later."

"Fine, go up tiara and read a book! I don't care, just do something."

"What is that? I want to read a book." Sora said.

"Do you know how to read?" Ventus asked.

"No." Sora answered. Aqua shooed them out of the kitchen and he took them his room. He didn't really have books to read to them. Just text books and the Scarlett Letter, which he himself found to be horribly boring.

"I want to read a book!" Sora repeated.

"Me too!" Roxas said.

"I don't have one to read." He said. But he guessed he could make one up. "Here, sit down, I'll just _tell _you a story."

"Once there was a boy, he lived in an orphanage. He had two friends who were older than him, they got to move away without him. But they took him too. The boy thought he'd get to spend all his time with them. But one friend joined the army. The other started a restaurant franchise and was hardly home. But the boy could live with that, because the moments when they were together, were good moments. Until one friend told him about other kids. The boy had to go get those kids and take care of them The kids ruined his social life. The end." He waited for their reactions but received none.

"That was boring." Roxas said.

"I do not understand it." Sora said.

"Yeah, I know you don't." He muttered.

"Ventus, my arm still hurts" Roxas said.

"Why don't you take a nap, it'll help you feel better." He suggested. Then maybe he could work up the courage to tell his friends that he would be skipping out on the bigger party of the year.

"The light are still on." Sora said. The lights were, in fact, not on. But the sun was shining through the window and casting some sort of light.

"I can turn them off when you get in bed." He said. He pulled back his blanket and allowed the boys to climb into his bed. "I'll be back as soon as you wake up."

"What will we do then?" Sora asked.

"You'll get a haircut. And then we'll get you ready for dinner." He tucked them in.

"Jello?" Roxas asked.

"No, Aqua will have a cow." He said, "Real food."

"Oh, you mean muffins." Roxas said, "I like those."

"Just go to sleep okay?" He pulled down the blinds and shut the curtains before heading out of the room. He wasn't sure of they were sleeping, but they weren't talking and they weren't moving so that was fine by him.

He decided to play a video game in Terra's room. That would help him relax. Maybe he could even figure out a way to go to the party.

He sat down on the floor and turned on the system. No sooner then two minute after he'd gotten comfortable was there a knock on the door. He groaned an got up, "What?" He opened the door and saw Sora and Roxas standing there.

"I want to draw with the markets again." Roxas said. He held up the papers an markers from earlier.

"Me too." Sora said, "We won't bother you." They entered the room and plopped themselves down. Ventus rolled his eyes and went back to playing the games. After a few minutes of playing, Sora poked his shoulder. "Why do the markers stay the same size? The crayon always gets shorter." He said.

"Markers are different. They don't get shorter but they run out of juice eventually." He explained.

"Oh." Sora said.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Playing a game." Ventus answered.

"Playing?" Roxas questioned, "Aqua said you would play with us."

"You don't know how to play this game." Ventus said.

"But you can teach us." Sora said.

"I can't teach you this. This is Terra's and you'll jut break it." He said, "But we can watch a movie instead." He turned off the system and switched back to the TV. There was a movie, a scary movie. The Boogeyman. He actually liked that movie and it seemed that the kids liked it too. But it was a scary movie and he was sure that Aqua would object to it. If it kept them occupied though, it didn't matter.

He snuck out of the room and ran down to the kitchen. Aqua was inside icing a cake. "Hey! Chocolate!" He reached for the icing and had his hand slapped away.

"Don't be a pig, Ventus!" She said, "And when's the last time you washed your hands?"

"Whats this for?" He asked.

"It's for Terra. It's his favorite." Aqua said, "He won't be here until later so no one gets any until then."

"But you made chocolate? I thought his favorite was angel food cake." He said thoughtfully.

"Is that so?" Aqua questioned.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll be disappointed." Ventus said, "But it isn't too late to make another one. I'll eat this one."

"Nice try, Ventus." She said. He placed a li over the cake.

"But you never make cakes! Just let me taste it." He said.

"Shouldn't you be watching the boys?" She asked.

"They're watching a movie." He sighed, "And you can't expect me to spend every second with them."

"Ventus..."

"Why did you take them in?" He asked, "Don't you know people who could've taken them?"

"Sure, but I think you needed this. You seemed lonely." She said.

"I wasn't. I have friends, Aqua." Ventus said, "I don't want them to stay here."

"Don't say that." Aqua said, "They love you-"

"They don't know me." He muttered.

"But they still like you. I saw them, they've obviously been through something. And I can also see that they trust you. You can't just get rid of them." She said.

"I don't like them, Aqua." He snapped, "They ask too many questions and they're clingy and they've barely been her an hour, okay? How can I live with them when I can't even handle an hour?"

"If this were a movie they would be standing right behind you and then they would run and you'd have to make it up to them." She said. Ventus turns to the doorway and was relieved to see no one there.

"What's your point?" He asked.

"They're just kids. You just need to get used to them." She said, "a lot of people go through this when they get new siblings."

"But what about school? And my friends and sports. Why should I have to give all that up?" He asked.

"I only asked for a few days of your time." Aqua said, her voice was suddenly stern, "Stop acting like this and do me this favor. I'll take care of it and then you won't have to worry. You just need time to get used to them."

"Right, sorry." He sighed.

Aqua picked up a cookie and handed it to him, "This is all you get, now go. I don't need you getting full before dinner again."

"I won't." He said. The problem wasn't exactly solved and he felt a little guilty for snapping on her like that, but at least she knew how he felt now. And maybe she was right, maybe he did just need to get used to them being around.

0.o.0.o.0

**A/N: Another chapter done. I'm typing this all on my phone so please tell me if you see any mistakes, tell me. Okay? Also, any readers who read the original version, can you tell me if you like the changes made?**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any related works. This is purely fan-fiction.

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

Chapter 3

After talking with Aqua, Ventus had gone to check on the kids. They were still absorbed in the movie so he decided to take a nap. He wasn't really tired, but maybe if they saw him sleeping, they would leave him alone. He wasn't sure exactly how long he'd been asleep before someone screamed his name. He shot up, rubbing his eyes and looking around the dark room. "Huh?" maybe he'd imagined it? He got out of bed and noticed the clock on his nightstand... 2:16? How had he slept that long? It was only supposed to be a short nap! And Aqua would be upset if she had to watch the kids while she was supposed to be making dinner.

He raced to Terra's room and saw that they weren't there. He saw the scattered markers, all without caps littering the floor and assumed that they'd gone to get haircuts. Maybe they were scared, maybe he hadn't imagined the scream. They were probably afraid of scissors.

"Aqua?!" he shouted.

"Bathroom!" she shouted back. He hurried down the hall and into the bathroom. "How was your nap? I knew you woke up too early."

"What's going on?" he breathed.

"Nothing really, they're really scared though." she said.

"Of the scissors?" he asked, "Where are they?"

"In the bathtub." she said, "And they didn't freak out because of the scissors."

"The why?" he asked.

"Terra and his friend, Zack, got here earlier then expected. You know a lot of things are happening earlier then expected. I barely had time to take the chicken out of the oven before-"

"Aqua? Can we get back on track?" he asked.

"Yes! Sorry." she laughed, "So, I introduced him to Sora and Roxas and everything was still fine until Zack ran into he room with a creepy mask on. They got scared and even though Zack immediately took it off to show them it wasn't real, they were still scared."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.

"After that fit you threw earlier? I thought it was best to leave you alone for a moment." she said, "But since you're awake, just try to calm them down okay?" She pulled back to shower curtain and saw the boys cowering in the tub.

"Hey guys, you want to get out of the tube?" he asked.

"No!" Sora shouted. Roxas moved forward and grabbed his pants leg.

"Get in, Ventus! Before the bugger-man comes!" he pulled on his pants, "Hurry!"

"Guys, there is no boogeyman. It was just Terra's friend." he said, "It was a joke and they do it to me all the time." He'd only ever been scared once by them, and that was when he was 12. Every other time, they just managed to catch him off guard and count it as a win on their part.

"No, you have to help us make him disappear." Sora said, "Back into the box."

"The box?"

Ventus asked.

"The TV." Roxas corrected his older brother, "He came from the TV and we need you to make him go back in."

"TV's don't work like that, guys. No one can come in or out of them. Zack is a friend and even though he jokes a lot, he wont hurt you." he said. Sora and Roxas didn't look convinced, "I'll show you, come with me okay?"

"No! We saw him! He is a monster. Even if he did not come from the box, he took off his face!" Sora shouted.

"Come on, stop shouting so much." he sighed, "Zack isn't a monster. He's a soldier and he protects people. I mean, if he was a monster, Aqua wouldn't have-"

"Aqua! She went out there!" Sora gasped.

"She was so nice! She... she gave us cookies and they were so good!" Roxas started to cry and Sora followed suit.

"Guys! Come on, Aqua's fine." he said. He'd hoped that she would come into the bathroom and show them, but it seemed that she was gone.

"No!" Sora cried.

"She is, I'll show you." he started to walk out of the room but Sora jumped out of the tub and grabbed his leg.

"Ventus! If you go, he'll eat you! We just met you and if he eats you, we will have to go back to Vexen!" he sniffled.

"We hate Vexen!" Roxas joined his brother and grabbed his other leg.

"Guys, stop it You live here now and you don't have to worry about Vexen." He said, "Now let go." The boys didn't budge, "Come on..." he was starting to get annoyed. He tried to shake his legs but they wouldn't let go. He had to bend over and pull them off of him, "Look, we're going to talk to Zack now, okay?" He walked out of the bathroom and turned around just in time to see the door slam in his face.

"There is nothing we can do for him." he heard Roxas tell Sora. He rolled his eyes and went to find Aqua. She was in her office, looking up something on her computer.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if the internet knows how to calm them down." she said, "Did you get anywhere with them?"

"No," he said.

"It's weird, they went from robots to terrified in two seconds." she said.

Ventus opened his mouth to speak when it hit him, "Crap!" he said.

"What?" Aqua asked.

"Someone might have let them watch a scary movie earlier." he said.

"Would that someone be you?" Aqua asked. She stood up straight and crossed her arms, "Ventus?"

"Okay, maybe." he said, "But they were fine when they were watching it!" he defended.

"Who cares? You don't let kids that young watch scary movies!" Aqua marched by him and out of the room. He followed her and saw her go into the kitchen.

"Hey! How come they can have some!" he said once he saw Terra and Zack eating two large slices of cake.

"They can't... Tera, you know that was for my dessert. How can I present a cake to my guests when you've already eaten half of it?" she asked.

"Oh! I forgot. But you know this is my favorite! I couldn't resist." he smiled. Ventus was sure he saw Aqua blush, but maybe she was just angry.

"They'll be here soon, I don't have time to make another one." she sighed.

"Hey, we'll buy one! That'll work." Terra said, "We'll have it back in time."

"Whatever, let's just get back to the task at hand." she pointed at Zack, "You scared those boys and now they won't come out of the bathroom."

"I suppose that's the safest place." Terra laughed, "You got them good! I haven't seen anyone scream like that since Ventus was 12."

"i didn't scream!" Ventus defended.

"You did." Zack said.

"Guys stop! This isn't funny." Aqua said.

"Where'd you even get those kids? They're kind of weird." Terra said.

"That's not important, okay? They think you murdered Aqua." Ventus said. He wasn't sure how anybody would react to their origins. He hadn't even told Aqua the truth about them.

"Really?" Terra and Zack looked a each other and laughed again.

"This is serious!" Aqua raised her voice and the two of them stopped.

"Right, Sorry." Zack said, "We'll talk to them if that helps."

"I don't think it will." Aqua sighed, "They don't like you."

"You know, when you finally do get them out, they'll be just like Ventus when he first saw a scary movie."

"What? I never-"

"Yeah, he had me check under the beds and in the closets. Twice." Aqua laughed.

"i thought you said it wasn't funny." he mumbled.

"This isn't." Terra said, "That was."

"Well-" he stopped as something sailed over his head and almost hit Zack in the face.

"What the-" They all turned to see Sora and Roxas, armed with towels and toothbrushes, standing at the door.

"Aqua! Ventus! Get over here!" Sora shouted.

"Really guys, all you shouting is giving me a headache." Ventus said.

"The monster is right there! And he is eating the cake Aqua made." Sora said.

"Cake?" Roxas' defensive posture relaxed as he walked over to the table, "I want cake." Aqua helped him into a chair and Sora climbed into the one next to him.

"Me too." he said.

"No, it's almost time for dinner." Aqua said, "You two still need to get out of those clothes."

"Wait, you're just going to forget about-" Ventus began but Aqua shushed him and turned back to the kids.

"You guys look like you've been dipped in paint." she said.

"Ventus gave us markers." Roxas watched the cake sadly.

"See, they probably knew it was a joke." Zack said.

"A joke?" Roxas repeated, "What is that?"

"Um... Well, it's something that's usually stupid. All though can be funny sometimes." Aqua explained.

"Was this funny?" Sora looked at Zack.

"Well..." he started,"Kind of..."

"No, it wasn't." Aqua corrected, "It was stupid and Zack won't do it again. Right, Zack?"

"No." Zack mumbled. Terra stood up and patted his belly.

"Right, so we're going out. We'll drop off the cake later."

"You aren't staying for dinner?" Aqua asked.

"No, we have plans." Terra said, "You don't mid do you?"

"No, have fun." she said.

"Thanks, we'll hang tomorrow okay?"

"I have work." she sighed. They looked at each other for a moment andTerra sighed.

"Look, maybe we'll do better planning next time. Okay?" he suggested.

"Terra, don't worry about it, it's fine." she smiled, "Go, have fun." Terra gave her a hug and both he and Zack left. She stood and watched after them for a moment before looking back at Ventus, "Okay, there's less then an hour until Ansem arrives and we still have so much to do."

"Aqua..." he could tell she was upset, "Listen-"

"How do you like their haircuts?" she interrupted.

He turned his eyes to the boys, who were still eyeing the cake. He hadn't noticed at fist, but they were both sporting cuts very similar to his. "Why do they look like that?"

"Roxas wanted to look like you." she said, "And Sora wanted to look a little like you."

"Yeah, but why did you let them?" he asked.

"It's cute." she answered.

"Are you going back to work Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon?" he asked.

"Afternoon." she answered.

"Oh, well can you-"

"Ventus, enough questions. You're starting to sound like them." she gestured at the boys.

"Huh?" he said, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing!" Aqua left the kitchen, "Get them cleaned up!" He turned back to the boys, he was going to have to scrub them to get all the marker off.

"You heard her, to the bath tub." he said.

"The what?" Roxas asked.

"That place you were just hiding." Ventus reminded them, "It's time for a bath."

"I want one! Does it taste good?" Sora asked.

"No, what... why... you don't eat baths..." he said, "It's how be get clean. Like your showers back at Vexen's lab."

"Oh." The boys hopped from their chairs and followed him up the stairs.

"Why do we need a bath? Why not a shower?" Roxas asked.

"Because that won't cut it. You guys are filthy." Ventus explained. He frowned when he realized that they'd probably never been this dirty. They drank water for their entire live's and did nothing at all. Now they were covered in marker and crumbs.

He started the bath and found some bubble bath. Maybe it would keep them occupied enough while he cleaned them. "It's almost ready, okay? Get undressed."

"What is that stuff?" Roxas watched the bubbled rise in the tub.

"Bubbles." Ventus said, "They smell like apples." he scooped some up and blew them in Roxas' face. "They're fun." Sora and Roxas got undressed and he turned off the water. "Come on guys, get in."

"Why?" Sora asked.

"So we can get you clean."

"You have to get in with us." Roxas said.

"No." Ventus shook his head, "Guys, Aqua's guests will be here soon, you need to be ready by then."

"If you get in with us, we can finish quicker." Roxas said. Sora nodded in agreement and Ventus wondered if the kids were always this needy.

"Fine. Nut after this, it's back to showers and i'm not getting in with you." Ventus said. He stripped down to his underwear and got in the tub, "Come on." Sora and Roxas climbed in, this tub was not meant for three people. Roxas used what little space he had to splash water and bubbles around. "Stop that!" he sighed, "Aqua doesn't like water on the floors."

"I like this."

"Glad you're having fun." Ventus reached for the wash cloth and began to wipe the marker from Sora's face.

"This is fun?" Roxas asked.

"I guess." he shrugged. He wasn't having fun but they were, "You said you like it."

"I do." Roxas said.

"Then I guess you're having fun." He finally got Sora's face clean and turned to Roxas. The kid had a genuine smile on his face as he knocked most of the water and bubbles onto the floor. The smile actually looked creepy but still, it was a smile. "Didn't I say stop?" he tried to wash Roxas' face but the boy jerked away. "Come on, let me get your face."

"No!" Roxas splashed him and he splashed back.

"Cut it out." Ventus said.

"Good ting I got the camera because this is adorable." he heard Aqua say.

"Aqua!" he gasped, "What are you doing?"

"These are your first pictures together." Aqua laughed.

"Don't take pictures!" he said as she snapped a few more, "You are pure evil!"

"Hey, you're taking a bath in your underwear, you asked for this." she said.

"You know it's illegal to take pictures of naked kids?" Ventus said, "Pretty sure that's called porn."

"Porn?" Roxas repeated.

"Ventus! Watch your mouth around them." Aqua took a few more pictures.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"Adult stuff." Ventus grabbed ahold of Roxas' face and began to wipe.

"Are you an adult?" Sora asked.

"Nope. I'm a teenager." Ventus answered, "Stop squirming, Roxas!"

"Is Aqua an adult?" Roxas asked.

"Yes." Aqua answered.

"Are we adults?" Roxas asked.

"No." Ventus managed to get most of the marker off of Roxas before he jerked away again.

"Why not?" He asked.

"You're five, you're no where near an adult." Ventus said.

"Not fair." Sora slapped the water.

"Oh, what do you even know about fair?" Ventus mumbled.

"Yes we do." Roxas said, "And we should be adult because that is what is fair."

"Yeah, sure. We'll talk about it later. Like tomorrow later." Ventus said, "No more questions today." Roxas opened his mouth and closed it before looking to Aqua and repeating the process. "What?"

" How long until tomorrow?" He asked. Ventus sighed as Aqua went on to explain time to them. How could they know so much about some things but know absolutely nothing about other things? Maybe they'd picked things up from Vexen.

"Finish up, okay Ventus?" Aqua said, "I'll bring you towels." She left and returned with towels before leaving again. Ventus finished wiping the boys free of marker and then grabbed a towel. He didn't really need to cover himself, he was still in his underwear.

"Come on, let's get dressed." He motioned for the boys to get out.

"I want to stay in." Roxas said, "The water is green now."

"Yeah, because you guys were covered in marker." Ventus said. He wondered how clean they actually were. They were siting in green water after all. "Get out."

"No." Roxas splashed the water.

"Hey, Aqua made us dinner." He tried, "She'll be upset if you miss it."

Sora nodded and Roxas pouted, "Fine." He said, "But can we get back in after dinner?"

"No." Ventus said, "Tomorrow, how about that?" He wrapped them in towels and looked around, he'd forgotten the clothes for them in his room. "Come on." He dropped his towel and hurried out of the bathroom and to his room.

When he turned around and saw Sora and Roxas had followed but without their towels. "Hey! What the heck are you doing?" He shut the door, "Why did you take off your towels?"

"Because you did." Roxas said.

"No, you're naked. You need to stay covered." He picked up the bag from earlier and found the clothes he'd purchased, "Put these on."

They took the outfits and stared at them. "Who is this?" Sora pointed to the superhero on the shirt.

"It's Superman." Ventus said, "Now put it on." Sir put his shirt on and looked at Roxas.

"Who is that?" He asked, pointing to Roxas' shirt.

"Batman." He answered. He should have gotten shirts with nothing on them.

"Who are they?" Roxas asked.

"Super heroes." He answered, "I'll show you later okay?"

"Okay." Sora and Roxas agreed. They both pulled on their underwear and shorts before looking at Ventus.

"Now what?" They asked.

"We have to clean the bathroom, you guys splashed water everywhere." Ventus said. Thy went to the bathroom and Ventus picked up the clothes. He put them in the dirty clothes bin and began to wipe up the spilled water.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked when he reached into the tub to drain the water.

"Getting rid of the water." He said.

"But we need it for tomorrow." Roxas said

"We'll get more." He said.

"Ventus!" Aqua called from the kitchen, "Hurry!" He walked down to the kitchen quickly.

"What is it?" He asked.

"You need to go to the store and get the cake. Terra and Zack forgot and they're already an hour away." She said.

"How am I supposed to get to the store with these two following me around?" He gestured to the boys who were practically hugging his legs.

"Take them with you."

"They don't like it outside." He said.

"Then leave them here! Just hurry." She said. He rushed to the door and grabbed the keys.

"Wait! Ventus, we want to come with you!" Sora said.

"No, I'll only be gone a minute okay?" He said, "Stay with Aqua."

"Okay." Sora sighed and went back to the kitchen. Ventus was planning on staying out as long as he could. Aqua didn't need the cake until desert an he didn't want to sit through another boring dinner with Ansem.

0.o.0.o.0

"Why did Ventus leave?" Sora asked.

"Will he come back?" Roxas asked.

"It has been a long time, is it tomorrow?" Sora asked.

"We have to go find him." Roxas said. Aqua closed her eyes, Ventus hadn't even been gone for 10 minutes and she was already getting frustrated with the endless questions. They were also touching everything they could.

Sora knocked over a plant and simply walked away. Roxas walked over to the same plant and grabbed a handful of the dirt. "No! Put that down!" She grabbed his wrist and shook the dirt from his hand, "You just got out of the tub, no we have to wash you hands."

She turned and saw Sora trying to climb the bookshelf, "Sora, come on." She said, "Don't climb on that." She glanced at the clock and saw that it was ten minutes until three, at least she had time to straighten up.

"Where is Ventus?" Sora asked.

"At the store." Aqua said.

"We want muffins." Roxas said.

"Not now okay?" Aqua said. She pulled Roxas to the kitchen and helped Roxas wash his hands before sitting them down in the living room. "Okay." She took a breath.

"Are you our mom?" Sora asked suddenly.

"Ventus said you would be." Roxas said.

"Well, I guess. Sort of, you don't have to call me mom." She said. She was actually hoping that they'd see her as more of a sister, she was too young to be a mom. "Now can you tell me about Vexen? Was he your dad?" She asked.

"No." Sora shook his head, "He kept us in a room all day."

"Ventus is our dad." Roxas said.

"Ventus is your brother." Aqua corrected, "You don't-" she stopped, she had no idea if their parents were alive and well or if they'd died. She didn't want to tell them anything until she was sure.

The doorbell rang and she stood up, "Is it Ventus?" Sora asked. No, Ventus had a key. She hoped Ansem hadn't come early, she still needed to clean up.

She went to the door and answered it, "Terra? I thought you were gone?" She said.

"No, I figured we could hang later after dinner." He said.

"Yeah, an the way this guy was bragging about your cooking made me really want to try it." Zack said. She moved out of the way and let them in.

"Is Terra our dad?" Sora asked from the couch.

Terra gave her a look and she blushed, "No. He's a brother too." She answered quickly and turned away from Terra. "Can you sit with them while I clean the table? Roxas knocked down a plant."

"No problem." Terra walked over to the couch and sat down with them. Aqua rushed into the kitchen to get the wash cloth. She was happy Terra had returned, even if it was only for dinner. She hardly ever got to see him anymore because of the Air Force. 5 years he'd been gone, but his active duty would be over in January.

She heard the boys asking questions, each of them asking another after another, barely giving any time to answer the questions. "Whoa now, slow down." Terra said, "How does Ventus deal with this?"

Aqua left the kitchen and cleaned up the mess Sora had made. "You know, you forgot the cake." She said.

"Heh, yeah." Terra scratches his head, "Sorry?"

"I already sent Ventus to get one, but I think he's trying to stay out all long as he can." Aqua said. As soon as she'd said it, Ventus came back with the cake.

"This one isn't chocolate." He said, "They were out of that." He set the cake down in the kitchen and them returned, noticing Terra and Zack. "Look who came back." He smiled.

"Yes, we're all here." Aqua said, "Now let me get a picture."

"Do we have to?" Sora asked.

"Yes." Aqua said.

"Why?" Roxas asked.

"Guys, I said no questions until tomorrow." Ventus rolled his eyes.

"Look, he's already setting rules!" Terra said, "How does it feel to be a dad, Ventus?"

"No! Brother! Aqua said he is a brother!" Sora corrected. The awkward robot like voices were fading away, maybe they'd just needed to get comfortable. Or maybe they'd been talking like Vexen. She remembered that he'd sounded pretty robotic himself.

Aqua left the boys alone an retrieved her camera. She took a few surprise pictures before making them stand up and pose. "Okay, just you guys first, then I'll have Zack take a picture of us."

They took the pictures before Terra asked for a moment alone with them both. Zack took the kids to the kitchen.

"Alright, what's the deal with them?" He asked.

"What?" She asked.

"They talk like they know everything, but they know nothing." He said.

"They grew up indoors with a doctor. I'm sure he was distant with them and didn't bother to teach them anything they didn't need to know." Ventus said.

"I bet thats why they like you so much." Aqua said thoughtfully, "You were the first person who was nice to them."

"Yeah, sure." Ventus mumbled, "It's kind of annoying. They won't go outside so they can't play with other kids, I bet they don't even know there are other people their age."

"Look, I'm here for three weeks okay? After Zack leaves tomorrow, I'll help out as much as possible before I go." Terra said.

"Three weeks!" Ventus said, "Aqua said you would only be here for two days."

"I'm sure that was a mistake, I'll be here for three weeks." He looked to her and for some reason she blushed again, "It'll be fun."

"Yes! Hey, why don't we get the boys?" She suggested and scurried out of the room.

0.o.0.o.0

Ventus watched after her, she was acting strange. "That was weird." He said.

"No, it really wasn't." Terra mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Ventus asked.

"Nothing." Terra said.

"Tell me!" He said.

"Later, maybe when you're older." He smiled. Ventus rolled his eyes, why were they always so secretive with him? "Calm down, we're just having fun."

"Well, better have fun while you can. You know how she gets when Ansem is around." He said. Terra had only met Ansem once, but they both remembered the extremely professional town she took on. Any jokes made were met with silence and maybe a glare if Ansem wasn't watching.

"Right! So professional." Terra laughed.

"Guys, Ansem is coming soon, can you go into the dining room?" Aqua pushed the boys out of the kitchen, "Terra can you help me set the table?" Terra nodded and went to help her out. Ventus led the boys into the dining room. He knew where everyone would be sitting.

Aqua would be at the head of the table, with Ansem and his wife on each side of her. Terra usually sat next to Ansem so he could make faces at Aqua while he tried to keep up a serious demeanor. He usually say across from Terra.

"I want to sit next to Ventus." Sora said. Aqua an Terra began to bring in the dinner.

"I get to sit next to him." Roxas said. Ventus sat down and sighed.

"No, I am older then you. I get to sit next to him." Sora tried to sit down next to him but Roxas pulled him back.

"No! I want to sit there." Roxas said. They continued to fight over the chair.

"Ventus! Stop them!" Sora and Roxas stopped when they noticed Aqua. "How long were you going to them fight?"

"Until they discovers the forks." He said. Terra laughed and Aqua rolled her eyes.

"We don't need them getting angry with each other. Can you imagine them fighting over everything whenever we tried to do something?" Aqua said, "Sibling rivalry isn't fun. It's nothing but fights and we know how much you like fighting children."

"Ha! Awesome family you've got here Terra." Zack said.

"Yeah." Terra said. Ventus noticed him looking at Aqua while she straightened the boys shirts. What was going on with them? The doorbell rang and Aqua rushed to answer it. "Alright, time to get serious." He said, "This dinner is going to be boring."

Aqua returned with Ansem and his wife. "You remember Terra?"

"From the Air Force?" Ansem asked.

"Yes, he'll be in town for a moment." She said, "And this is Zack, he's also in the Air Force."

"Nice to meet you." They exchanged handshakes and Ventus rolled his eyes, he was already bored. "And is that Ventus at the table?"

Aqua glares at him and he stood up, "Um, yeah. Nice to see you again." He walked over, Sora and Roxas followed behind him.

"Who are these two? They weren't here last time." He said.

"We just got here." Sora said.

"You are not our friend." Roxas said. Terra his a smirk and Aqua blushed.

"Don't be rude, Roxas." She said. She introduced them to Ansem and the dinner began. Ansem and Aqua talked about the restaurants and Terra pretended he actually knew what they were talking about. Ansem's wife fawned over the boys and answered their every question while Zack texted under the table. He sat and poked at the remainder of his food. It had already been 3 hours and thy still didn't start desert. Aqua was too occupied with talk about when waiters deserves tips and when they didn't.

After a moment he felt a weight on his side. Roxas had fallen asleep and was leaning on him. He looked to his other side and saw Sora was nodding off as well. "Um, Aqua, I'm going to put the kids to sleep." He said.

"Alright." She said. He picked up Roxas and Sora stood up. Terra glared at him but he just smirked. Aqua's dinners had a tendency to drag on and he was lucky to have escaped.

"We have to sleep?" Sora asked.

"Might as well, you're tired aren't you?" Ventus asked.

Sora nodded and rubbed his eyes, "But the lights are still on."

"Don't worry about that." They walked upstairs and he set Roxas down on his bed. He searched through the closet for something for them to sleep in, he was sure one of his old shirts would work fine.

He got the clothes and turned around. They were both asleep now and he found it easier to change them. Without Roxas questioning his every move, he accomplished the task easily and even changed into his pajamas.

"Is the... Bookyman... Under the bed?" Sora asked sleepily.

"No." Ventus answered.

"When did you check?" Sora asked.

"While you you were asleep." Ventus said, "Now scoot over. He positioned the boys so that he would be able to lay down between them. He turned off the light and laid down. Sora immediately grabbed onto his arm and curled up to him. "Goodnight." He said.

"Why is it good?" Sora mumbled but fell asleep before getting an answer. Ventus didn't usually go to sleep at seven, but wen after his long nap earlier, he was still tired. He closed his eyes and started to fall asleep when Roxas rolled over and grabbed his arm.

"Did you check the closet for monsters?" He asked. Ventus groaned and tried to sit up without waking Sora. He slipped out of bed and opened the closet door.

"No monsters here." He stuck his hand inside, "Now go to sleep."

"You didn't check the rest of the house." Roxas said. Ventus groaned again, it was going to be a long night.

0.o.0.o.0

**A/N: Thank to everyone who reviewed. I'm still in the process of editing, but here's another chapter. I think in the other version of this I sent Terra away after one day because I didn't know how to write him but he'll be sticking around this time. The next chapter is really different fro the original. There was an OC i'd written in, but he won't be in this version.**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything related.

Chapter 4

Ventus woke up early and slipped out of bed. He wanted to get showered and ready before Sora and Roxas woke up. He looked back at them, they didn't look like thy would wake up anytime soon.

He gathered some clothes and left the room. The first day hadn't been too bad. He was annoyed and just being in the same room as the boys made him exhausted. The night had been long, simply because the boys continuously woke up and made him check for monsters.

He made it to the bathroom and quickly took a shower. He was still tired, but he needed to start the day.

"Hey, Ventus?" Aqua knocked on the door, "I made pancakes for you guys. Terra and I are going to get some things for the boys and take Zack to the airport."

"Wait!" He stumbled out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself, "You can't leave me here again! I want to go."

"Ventus, we can't. If we take you, then we have to take them and then there won't be any space for the things we buy." Aqua said, "We'll look for a babysitter when we get home."

"Fine." He said, "But can you bring more pudding?"

"Do we need to go grocery shopping too?" Aqua asked.

"Uh, yeah." He said, "But it can wait." He slipped on his clothes and opened the door.

"No, I need to get as much as possible before I go to work." She said.

"Right, I'll send you a list." He said. He followed her to the door where Terra and Zack were waiting.

"Can you believe how early she has me up?" He groaned.

"It's 9:00!" Aqua said, "And you're in the military, you should be used to waking early."

"Yeah, but I don't usually party all night and I was hoping to use my time off to actually sleep in." He mumbled.

"Absolutely not, Ventus here sleeps enough for the both of you." Aqua said.

He usually slept a lot. Napping after practice and not waking until 12 on the weekends. He was a busy kid, he did a lot of physical activity. But with Sora and Roxas, he didn't think he'd ever get any rest. "Hurry back?" He said.

"Yeah," Terra said, "We won't leave you alone with them all day."

"Don't forget to send the list to Terra, if things take too long i'll have to leave him and head to work." Aqua said.

"Alright." Ventus nodded.

"And no more scary movies for the kids." she said.

"Aqua, go." he said, "We'll be fine." Once Aqua and Terra had left, Ventus went to the backyard. It was a large open space that Aqua used for summer parties. At the moment it was freshly cut, meaning it was perfect for taking the kids out. He could understand that they were afraid of the streets, too much noise at once, it probably hurt they're ears or something. But the backyard was quiet.

Aqua had a nice garden and pond in the left corner with a bench that she sat on when she had time to relax. The pond was clean and clear, swimming with a few large goldfish. It was interesting and he was sure the boys would like it. In the left corner was the garden shed. It was filled with tools and plant things, but it also held his sports equipment. He could teach them a simple game of catch with a baseball, or he could let them throw one of the bouncy balls around. It didn't really matter, so long as he didn't have to sit inside all day.

He went back inside and up to his room but stopped before he went inside. "He's gone!" Roxas said.

"Where?" Sora asked. Ventus moved out of sight and waited.

"I think... I think the monsters took him." Roxas said.

"No! How could we let that happen?" Sora asked, "Where did they take him?"

"Under the bed." Roxas said and Ventus wondered how he could be so sure of that. "We need to save him."

"But... if he is under the bed... the monsters will take us too!" Sora said, "We need someone to help us!"

"No time for that, Sora!" Roxas declared, "We need to save him now." Ventus peeked into the room and saw them hanging over the bed, slowly lifting the blanket and peeking under it.

"Where is he?" Sora asked.

"Right here." Ventus entered the room and the boys got out of bed and ran to him.

"Ventus! Where did you go?" Sora asked.

"We thought the monsters ate you!" Roxas said.

"I told you last night, he isn't real." Ventus said. How many times would he have to tell them before they actually listened? "Come on, it's time for breakfast."

"Muffins?" Roxas asked.

"No, pancakes." Ventus said. Sora looked confused but Roxas nodded happily.

"Good!" he said.

"You never had a pancake before." Sora said, "What if it tastes like that green stuff from last night?"

"Those were peas." Ventus said, "And trust me, pancakes taste nothing like peas."

"Are you sure?" Roxas asked.

"Yes, now come on." he said, "After we put your clothes back on, we'll eat and i'll teach you something cool." He didn't mention going outside until after breakfast. He led them to the back door and opened it.

"No." Roxas said.

"No what?" Ventus asked. He helped Sora into his shoes, which were more like slippers, and turned to Roxas, "It's fine."

"I want to stay in here." he said.

"But we can't play in here." Ventus said, "Aqua's rules."

"Play?" that got his attention, "Like... with crayons and markers?"

"No, with a baseball." he said. He was actually kind of excited to teach them something. He was ready to hear the questions.

"What is a baseball?" Sora asked.

He smiled, "I suppose you'll have to come out and see." he convinced Roxas to put his shoes on before putting n his own and slipping outside. It was a nice day out, the sun wasn't too bright and it wasn't too hot. "Are you coming?"

Sora was the first to step outside and onto the patio. He stood close to the door for a while before deciding it was safe enough to come further. "Where are the buildings?" he asked.

"And the speedy cars!" Roxas added from the doorway.

"This is the backyard. No one is allowed back here but us."

"Come on Roxas! We can play out here!" Sora suddenly ran forward, bounding down the steps and into the grass. "What is this?" he pulled some up, "It smells weird."

Roxas came out as well and saw the flowers, "Pretty!" he shouted and ran over to them. Ventus turned and closed the door before following them.

"Hey! Don't pull those out!" he shouted to Roxas. Roxas immediately stopped pulling us the flowers, "Those are Aqua's, okay? She put them there and they need to stay there."

"Okay." Roxas said.

"Is this a baseball?" he turned to Sora and saw him holding up a rock.

"No, that's a rock." Ventus said, "Wait here and i'll get the ball." He went to the shed and found the bag of balls. The couldn't remember the last time he used any of it. "Here." he set the bag down and the boys came over to it.

He pulled out the first ball, "This is a soccer ball. You kick it around." he handed it to Sora and pulled out another one, "This is a football. You throw it." He stood and threw it across the backyard.

"I want to throw it!" Roxas chased after it and retrieved it, "Okay! Catch it, Ventus!" He threw the ball and it landed a few feet in front of him.

"Nice try! We'll work on it, just come back over here." he said, "I still have stuff to show you."

He spent a few minutes going through the bag and showing them everything. He demonstrated a few things and let the boys try. "I like the baseball." Roxas said.

"I like this one!" Sora held out the soccer ball. "Can we play with this one?"

"Sure." he explained the rules as best as he could before setting up a makeshift goal post, "Just try to get the ball away from Roxas and into the goal. I'm going to stand here and try to stop you."

"How am I supposed to get the ball in if you try to stop it?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I think you should move." Roxas said.

"Guys the point of the game is to get the ball into the goal even though everyone is trying to stop you." Ventus said, "Roxas, you have to keep Sora away from the goal too."

"What?" Roxas scratched his head. Ventus sighed and explained everything again. After a few minutes, they began the game. It took ten minutes of shouting, _'No pushing!' _and _'Good job!' _Sora finally kicked the ball into the goal. He collapsed to the ground and took a huge breath.

"Ventus! Can we take a break now?" he said, "I need water."

"Yeah, okay." he said, "After our break we'll try some other game."

"No, I need to make a goal too." Roxas said.

"Fine, but after that, we'll do something else." he said, "So how about you sit on the patio and I get something to drink."

"Okay." Sora said. Ventus went into the house and found a few water bottles in the fridge. It was only 9:45, but he had a lot to keep him busy. He fond his phone and began to text a shopping list to Aqua. They needed plenty of juice boxes and snacks for the kids. She was better at shopping then he was, so his list was probably lacking, but it would do.

He gave the boys the water and watched as they tried to drink it all, instead spilling half of it on themselves. "It's cold." Sora said.

"Yeah." Roxas splashed some of it in his face.

"Hey!" Sora tried to throw water in Roxas' face but his bottle was empty.

"I got you, Sora." Ventus took his water and dumped it on Roxas' head.

"Ventus!" Roxas crossed his arms, "Stop it."

"But you just did it." Ventus said.

"I can do that." Roxas said, "You can't."

"Yeah, whatever." he said. He noticed Roxas had used the word can't, it wasn't taking him long to get used to normal talking. "Don't be so spoiled."

"What?" Roxas was confused again.

"Ignore that, how about we finish playing?" he suggested. They all agreed and launched into another round of soccer. They played for a while until Terra returned.

"Hey! What kind of game is this? One goal? 3 people?" he said.

"Play with us!" Roxas demanded.

"We have to put the groceries up." Terra said, "And Aqua wants me to see if she was right about the sizes."

"What sizes?" Sora asked.

"New clothes." Terra said, "But after you get cleaned up." he looked at them, "Is it possible for you to play a sport without getting covered in dirt?"

"Roxas started throwing dirt to distract us!" Sora said, "But Ventus said that was cheating."

"And Ventus poured water on my head!" Roxas said.

"Because you splashed it in my face!" Sora said.

"Right, you had a busy day. Just keep playing while Ventus and I bring the stuff in." Terra said.

"Okay." the boys agreed. Ventus followed Terra to his car.

"You know, she didn't mention that she was adopting kids until a week ago." Terra said, "I figured it would take longer."

"So did she." Ventus said.

"Did she tell you why?" Terra asked.

"Not really." he sighed, "She claims it was for me." But they both knew that wasn't true. Sure, she believed Vexen worked for a children's hospital, but there were several people who she could have found to take them in.

"I tried to ask her about it, but she kept changing the subject." Terra handed him a few bags and they took them inside to the kitchen. They could see the boys playing with the soccer ball out back. "If she wanted to be a foster mom, why would she take two before seeing if she could even handle one?"

"They're brothers, you cant separate them." Ventus shrugged.

"Yeah, okay." Terra said. They talked about it a little more as they put the food away. It made him curious and he wanted to read the files again, to see if there was something he'd missed. "How about we have lunch and take them to the park." Terra suggested.

"Really?" Ventus asked.

"Yeah, they'll make friends and you can have some peace." Terra said, "And I can sleep in the car."

"Sure, but I don't think they want to go to the park." Ventus said. Although they'd gotten used to the backyard easily. He wasn't sure how long he was supposed to let them get comfortable before he started taking them places. They'd lived in solitude, interacting only with scientists and Vexen and while they hadn't mentioned what Vexen had done to them to anyone, he wasn't sure if he could risk it.

"Trust me, I just drove by the park, it's not too crowded and it's a nice day." Terra said, "It'll be fine."

"Sure." Ventus agreed, "But only if I get to nap too."

"Fine." Terra rolled his eyes, "Get them something to wear and i'll make lunch." Ventus got the boys and helped them wash up before looking through the bags. They were separated already and Ventus wondered when Terra had done it.

He found a shirt for Sora, a white shirt with blue hems (?)and a pair of red shorts. For Roxas it was the opposite, red hems and blue shorts. "Okay, I think Terra has lunch ready." Ventus said.

"I want pancakes!" Roxas said.

"And Jello!" Sora added.

"You guys don't really know how to eat do you? Pancakes are for breakfast okay? And I guess you can have jello during lunch." he said.

"Why?" Sora asked, "Is there a rule?"

"Well, no... but you just don't. Not usually."

0.o.0.o.0

The park was big and colorful. There were kids everywhere running and laughing and Sora wondered why they weren't afraid of the noise. "Ventus! What is that?" Sora pointed to the collection of curly tubes.

"Slides." Ventus answered. The kids were all climbing a latter and sliding down it. Sora couldn't see what was so fun about it, but all the kids were laughing. He turned and saw kids sitting and swinging from ropes.

"And those?" He asked.

"Swings." Ventus at down on a bench, "Terra is going to wait in the car. Go play and maybe we'll get ice cream."

"Okay..." But he didn't want to play. Not without Ventus. They also didn't being the soccer ball, so how could they play?

"But who are all these people?" Roxas asked, "Why are they here?"

"To play." Ventus said. But the other kids didn't have soccer balls either. "Go make some new friends, okay?"

"Will you wait here for us?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I'll be right here." Ventus assured. Sora and Roxas walked away from Ventus, at first they stayed together. They tried the slide, which was actually fun. Then the wobbly bridge, which made Sora nervous. Then they split up. Roxas ran off, saying hi to everyone and doing whatever while Sora slowly tried out everything there.

"Hi!" Someone said. Sora turned around to see a red headed girl. She was was wearing a white dress that was covered with tiny pink flowers. She had blue eyes, like he did and was holding a lot of flowers.

"Hi." He said.

"My name is Kairi." She handed him a flower. "I picked these for Riku, but he's not here."

"Riku?" Sora asked.

"He's my friend." Kairi said, "And he didn't come today." She waved the flower in his face and a few petals fell off. A few of them wilted and she stopped. "Whoopsies! I think I broke it."

"You broke Riku's flowers?" Sora gasped but Kairi just giggled.

"There's a lot of flowers over there." She pointed. Sora looked at the field of flowers. They reminded him of Aqua's garden, where Ventus had told them to never pull up the flowers.

"Why did you pull them up?" He asked.

"For Riku!" Kairi said, "I told you!"

"Oh." Sora said.

"Now how about we find my sister and go play?" Kairi suggested. Sora nodded, he was ready to meet more people. They traveled through the playground and found a blonde girl near a tree. "She's always just sitting like this." Kairi said.

But the girl wasn't just sitting, she was drawing a picture and to Sora's surprise, Roxas was sitting an watching her. "This is a fish." He heard her say.

"That's Namine. She doesn't really play with other people." Kairi said.

"That is my brother." Sora pointe to Roxas.

"We can all play!" Kairi rushed over, "We're going to play hide and seek!"

"What?" Roxas asked.

"You don't know?" Kairi was shocked, "Everybody knows what his and seek is." Sora didn't, but he didn't tell her that. He was sure that Ventus would have told him why it was if it was important.

"I like hide and seek." Namine said.

"Only because you get to hide and be away from people." Kairi said, "We never find her."

"How do you play?" Roxas asked.

"You just hide and one of us ha to find everyone." Kairi said, "Namine will be it. Let's go hide." Kairi ran away and Sora and Roxas watched Namine.

"We have to hide." Sora whispered.

"What is missy sippy?" Roxas asked. Sora shrugged. "Why does she keep saying it?" Namine continued to count, saying missy sippy between each number.

"What are you doing?" Kairi had come back, "We have to hide."

"But she was saying missy sippy." Sora said.

"No! It's Mississippi! She's counting!" Kairi said. She grabbed their arms and pulled then along, "You guys are horrible at this game."

They stopped behind a bush and kneeled down. "What do we do now?" Sora asked.

"Nothing. We sit until Nami finds us or we get bored." Kairi said, "But she'll never find us."

"Nami?" Roxas asked.

"Who is that?" Sora asked.

"Namine, I call her Nami sometimes." Kairi said. Sora was confused, why would you call someone something that wasn't their name? He could ask Ventus about it later. "So where did you come from? You never come to the park."

"Ventus' house." Roxas answered.

"Is Ventus your dad?" She asked.

Sora shook his head, remembering what Aqua had said. "Ventus is a brother." He said.

"Where is he?" Kairi asked.

"He's sitting down." Roxas said.

"He's not at work? Isn't he a grown up?" Kairi asked.

"No, not yet." Sora answered, "But Aqua is at work."

"She's a sister and a mom." Roxas said.

"You can't be both!" Kairi said.

"Yes you can. Aqua is both!" Roxas argued, "She said so!" Kairi rolled her eyes and looked away.

"How long until Namine finds us?" Sora asked. He was getting tired of sitting behind the bush. He needed to make sure Ventus didn't leave them.

"Jut wait." Kairi said. Sora nodded but Roxas jumped up.

"This is boring. I want to play soccer." He said.

"No, we're playing hide and seek." Kairi said, and we don't even have a soccer ball." Roxas sighed and walked away. Sora watched after him as he headed back to the park. "He got bored too quick." Kairi said, "It happens to Riku too."

"Okay." Sora nodded and they continued to hide.

0.o.0.o.0

Roxas had been bored behind the bush, why did they have to stay in one place so long? There were so many people to play with. Somebody had to have a soccer ball.

Looking around he noticed two boys huddled under a slide. It was a little dark and he couldn't see what they were doing, but he went over anyway. As he got closer, he noticed the smoke between them.

"What are you doing?" He asked. One of the boys jumped and turned quickly.

"Nuthin!" He said.

"Hey, he's just a kid." The other boy said, "Who are you?"

"My name is Roxas." He said.

"This kid sounds weird." The blonde kid said. He scratched his head and looked to the redhead.

"And Roxas is a weird name." The redhead said, "Like you, Demyx."

"It's not weird! It's unique!" Demyx said.

"Yeah, that's what they tell you." The redhead said, "My name is Axel. I think I'm the oldest one here so you have to listen to me."

"How old are you?" Roxas asked, although he didn't really know how age was important or why some people were older then others. How could he get as big as Ventus?

"8, and Demyx is 7. How old are you?" Axel asked.

"5." He answered.

"5? Your a baby." Axel said.

"No, I am 5." Roxas said.

"Nope, you're a baby." Axel laughed.

"Leave him alone, he's bein' nice to us." Demyx said. Roxas looked at the smoke between them and Demyx smiled, "Hey, you wanna see somethin' cool?" He asked.

"Yeah, check it out." Axel pulled out a shiny item, "I got it from my brother." He opened it and fire grew out of it. "We were setting leaves on fire." Axel said.

Axel watched the fire. It was like the stove at home. He'd watched Aqua cook on it yesterday. "How does it do that?" He asked.

"I don't know." Axel said, "That's why lighters do."

"It does it 'cuz that's its job." Demyx said, "It's not allowed to do nuthin' else. Axel picked up another leaf an started to burn it. "All our names have X's in 'em." Demyx said.

"Yeah, but he better leave." Axel said, "Your parents will tell at you if they see you hanging around me."

"I do not have parents." Roxas said, "Just brothers and a sister." Even though Aqua was a mom and a sister, Kairi said she couldn't be both.

"Yeah, I bet he's like my brother. He just sits on the bench and plays on his phone." Axel said, "Or maybe like Demyx's hippy parents, they let him go anywhere."

"So he can stay?" Demyx asked.

"Only if he burns something." Axel pressed the lighter into his hands, "Like that paper over there." Axel pointed to a crumpled piece of paper lying near a car.

"Paper? How come you made me burn some bodies clothes?" Demyx asked.

"Shut up." Axel said. He pushed Roxas forward, "Hurry up." Roxas hurried to the paper and picked it up. He opened the metal like Axel had and set the paper in fire. It burned quickest and he dropped it.

"Roxas? Are you playing with fire?" He heard Terra ask.

"No, I was just setting paper on fire." Roxas said.

"Same thing." The car door opened and Terra stepped out. "You can't do that, you'll get hurt." Terra looked around for a moment, "You know what, I think we should go home."

"No! I met people!" Roxas said. He was making friends like Ventus wanted him to.

"Yeah, but Ventus isn't paying attention to you and I'm tired." Terra took his hand and Roxas quickly put the lighter in his pocket.

"I want to stay here." He looked over to Axel and saw the boy giving him a thumbs up while Demyx waved.

"Don't argue, let's just get the others and go home." Terra yawned, "Besides, I'm pretty sure Aqua will kills us when she finds out we let you okay with fire."

"She is going is kill you?" Roxas gasped, "Like a monster?"

"No!" Terra answered quickly, "No, that was a joke."

"I thought jokes were supposed to be funny." Roxas said. He could never understand how Terra's jokes were funny. They only scared him.

They found Sora and Ventus and got into the car. Roxas patted his pocket and wondered if Axel would be angry that he kept the lighter.

It didn't take long for them to get home. Terra went to his room and they followed Ventus to his. Roxas climbed into bed and found himself to e sleepy. "I'm going to take a nap." He said, "Like Terra."

"Go ahead." Ventus said. Sora began to tell Ventus about the game of hide and seek he played with Kairi and Namine and Roxas drifted off to sleep.

0.o.0.o.0

**A/N: Why the heck are these chapters so long? I used to think that word count was the most important part of a story. I know now that this is not true. So I will be splitting chapters and trimming useless things. Can anyone suggest a babysitter?**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything related

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read last chapter. :)**

Chapter 5

2 days later.

It hadn't taken long to get settled down into a comfortable system. Aqua had quickly gotten a babysitter and he'd been able to go back to hanging with friends.

He only got a few hours of free time, but that was better than nothing.

"Pineapple?" Roxas asked again.

"Yes. That's a pineapple." Ventus said again. They were at the store getting a bell pepper for Aqua. She specifically asked for a yellow one and was a little upset that she'd only gotten green ones.

"It's pointy." Roxas said. A few days at the park and their speech was a little less robotic. They still sounded like robots, but the use of contractions made it a little better.

"Do we eat it?" Sora asked.

"Just the inside." Ventus said. He looked through his wallet and saw that he'd forgotten the money Aqua had given him at home. He had $10 already, it was his lunch money for the next day, but he'd just use that and keep the money Aqua had given him at home. "The outside tastes funny." he said.

"I want one." Roxas reached into the pile and pulled one from the bottom. Ventus reached out to catch the falling fruits but managed to catch one.

"Can we get them all?" Sora asked as he picked one up.

"No. We came for peppers." Ventus said. And with his measly ten dollars, he wouldn't be able to buy anything else.

"But we never had a pineapple." Roxas mumbled. Ventus rolled his eyes and began to pick up the fruit, trying hard to arrange them back into the funky pyramid they'd been in. He picked up the last few and turned back to the boys.

"Okay, let's- Roxas? What are you doing?" he asked slowly. The boy had been attempting to stuff a pineapple under his shirt and had quickly dropped it when Ventus looked at him.

"Nothing." he said quickly.

"No, I saw you." Ventus said, "You were trying to steal a pineapple!" He was trying not to yell at him. That would just make him cry, as they all found out after the first day at the park, where Aqua had found him playing with a lighter and attempting to burn the curtains. The last thing he needed was Roxas crying in the store.

"No! Stealing is bad." Roxas said, "But this is borrowing."

"It's only borrowing if you give it back." Ventus took the pineapple and put it up.

"I was going to give it back." Roxas said.

"When? After you ate it?" Ventus asked.

"Axel says I don't have to give it all back, just some of it." Roxas said. And there was the name again. Ventus knew that the babysitter took them to the park everyday, and he'd assumed Axel was a person that Roxas had met. At first he was happy, but he'd quickly began to dislike Axel. Whenever Roxas did something bad, his excuse was that Axel said it was okay.

What was he supposed to do though? He was never at the park with them, so he couldn't stop Roxas from playing with the boy. "Axel doesn't make the rules." Ventus said, "Let's find the yellow pepper and get out of here."

"I know what yellow is!" Sora said as he ran off.

"Me too!" Roxas followed. Ventus sighed and and looked towards the yellow peppers. They probably didn't know what a pepper even was. He was glad that they didn't, the peppers were piled in an even more ridiculous pile and if they knocked it down he'd never be able to put it back the right way. He picked up two peppers and put them in a bag before going off to find the boys.

"Sora?" he called, he searched near every yellow fruit and vegetables he could find but didn't find them. He looked through the customers, a little upset that he'd let the kids run off in such a crowded place. After searching he heard their voices.

"It's banana!" Sora said.

"But it has blue thingies." Roxas said, "And it doesn't taste like banana."

Ventus rushed forward, "Guys! You can't eat those!" he said. But Sora and Roxas had already started eating the muffins.

"Ventus, what kind is this?" Roxas held up the blueberry muffin he was eating.

"Guys... we came for peppers." he held the bag up, "Not muffins. You're going to spend all my lunch money."

"Excuse me, but you're supposed to pay for those before eating them." an employee said.

Ventus turned, "I'm sorry, but they started eating before I could-" he stopped, "_You_ work here?" It was a boy from his school. He was what all the girls from his first period called a bad boy. He never did any work, yet he seemed to pass every class. "Vanitas?"

"Oh? You actually remember my name? And I thought you rich people only remembered your own names." Vanitas said, "And speaking of rich, why are you making children steal muffins?"

"Borrowing!" Roxas corrected, "Axel says it's borrowing."

"Roxas, just be quiet." Ventus sighed, "And we're not stealing. We'll pay for them."

"Yeah, whatever. Just wait until I tell everyone at school." Vanitas said.

"Don't do that." Ventus said.

"Or what?"

"Or..." Ventus trailed off. There wasn't much he could actually do. Vanitas was stronger then him so he couldn't fight him. He couldn't ell anyone because that would make him look weak... What was he supposed to do? If Vanitas told people, he'd immediately be uninvited to the party on Friday.

"Maybe we could arrange a little payment." Vanitas said, "It's $4.95 for the muffins and an extra $5 for annoying me."

"But I only have $10." Ventus said. He wouldn't be able to buy the peppers if he gave Vanitas the money... but the party was more important then Aqua's dinner... He gave Vanitas the money and walked away. He would just take them home and get the money. He'd tell Aqua he forgot it and rush back. This time, he wouldn't bring the boys.

"We forgot the peppers." Sora said as he climbed into the backseat of the car.

"Yeah." Ventus said, "I'll come back for it later. Where's Roxas?" he looked back to the store, hoping Roxas wasn't still inside causing more damage. He saw him running from the store with something large tucked under his shirt. "No..." his eyes widened as he realized what it was.

Roxas reached the car and took a huge breath, "Ventus, look!" he pulled the small personal watermelon from his shirt, "I borrowed it."

Ventus let his head fall against the steering wheel, he was never bringing them anywhere again.

0.o.0.o.0

**A/N: Hurray for short chapters! And hurray for Vanitas being back. You guys can expect a lot more development from him because I just love him so much.**


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